Random House Audio has produced a nice
audio collection of some of Benson's 'greatest hits' in the ghost story genre. Mark Gatiss does an excellent job of reading 'em. Need I say more? Oh all right then...
The stories in the collection are: 'The Bus Conductor', 'Negotium Perambulans', ''...And No Birds Sing'', 'Spinach', 'Mrs Amworth', 'In the Tube','The Room in the Tower', 'Caterpillars', and 'The Man Who Went Too Far'. I would have preferred 'How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery' to 'Spinach', which is lightweight stuff, but perhaps the former was a bit too long?
Gatiss, a fan of the Mapp and Lucia books, adopts a relatively light touch with the characters and settings here, emphasising the pleasant rural atmosphere in 'Mrs Amworth'. In 'Spinach', a comic tale', he has fun with the slightly preposterous society psychics. The climactic moments of genuine horror are well delivered, though. Overall it's a very relaxing listen at bedtime. Unless you're the sort of person who can't sleep after hearing about someone attacked by a giant spectral slug.
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